author
Martin M. Goldsmith
1913–1994
A lean, fatalistic voice in American noir, Martin M. Goldsmith is best remembered for Detour, the gripping novel that became Edgar G. Ulmer’s celebrated 1945 film. His stories explore bad luck, moral pressure, and the seemingly inescapable consequences of one wrong decision.
1 Audiobook
Double jeopardy
by Martin M. Goldsmith
About the author
Martin M. Goldsmith (November 6, 1913–May 24, 1994) was an American novelist and screenwriter born in New York City who later settled in Los Angeles. He left school as a teenager, traveled across the United States and Mexico, and began selling short fiction to magazines before turning to novels and screenwriting.
His first novel, Double Jeopardy, appeared in 1938, followed by Detour in 1939 and Shadows at Noon in 1943. Detour, a dark story about a musician whose journey to Los Angeles spirals into crime and suspicion, became the basis for Edgar G. Ulmer’s influential 1945 film noir. Goldsmith also worked in film and television and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story for The Narrow Margin.